Color-proofing is the procedure used by the printing industry for creating representative images that replicate the appearance of printed images without the cost and time required to actually set up a high-speed, high-volume printing press to print an example of the images intended. One such color proofer is a lathe bed scanner which utilizes a thermal printer having half-tone capabilities. This printer is arranged to form an image on a thermal print medium, or writing element, in which a donor transfers a dye to the writing element upon a sufficient amount of thermal energy. This printer includes a plurality of diode lasers which can be individually modulated to supply energy to selected areas of the medium in accordance with an information signal.
A print-head includes one end of a fiber optic array having a plurality of optical fibers that are coupled to the diode lasers for transmitting the signals from the laser to the print head. The writing element is supported on a rotatable imaging drum, and the print-head with the fiber optic array is movable relative to the longitudinal axis of the drum. The dye is transferred to the writing element as the radiation, transferred from the diode lasers to the donor element by the optical fibers, is converted to thermal energy in the donor element.
The print head rests on a translation table of the lathe bed scanner and clamps are placed atop a portion of the print head and are clamped to the translation table for holding the print head thereto.
Although the presently known and utilized scanner is satisfactory, it is not without drawbacks. The translation table is precision machined so that the print head rests in a predetermined position on the translation table. Further, clamps require tedious calibration of the print head for maintaining focus and head angle.
Consequently, a need exists for improvements in the construction of the lathe bed scanner so as to overcome the above-described shortcomings.